Typewriting machine



1931- w. F. HELMOND TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed May 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheetl //7 van for: %%m amfia & Arm/3Z4 Dec. 22, 1931. w. F. HELMONDTYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed May 6. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 2219 3 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I i WILLIAM F. HELMOND, or wnsrHARTFORD, connncrrcu'r, nssrenoe TO unnn'itwo'on ELLIOTT FISHER COMPANY,on NEW YORK, N. Y.,' A CORPORATION or DELAWARE TYPEWRITING MACHINEApplication filed May 6, 1929. Serial 1t1" 360,881..

. alignment of the impressions on the types written line. V 1

In short typewriter-carriages that have run upon pivoted rolls, 'it hasbeen a common fault that the carriage has been loose and shaky, and aptto run unevenlyr In many kinds of machines, the short carriage has beensupported at its rear upon widely-spaced rolls, and at its front upon asingle center roll, all of the rolls pivoted upon a carriage to traveltherewith; and this type of mounting, while permitting freedom ofmotion, has had the drawback that the short carriage vibratesexcessively both from right to left and up and down, and is very liableto teetering, one corner dropping While another cor-. ner rises.

In order to overcome these objections, it is one of the features of thepresent invention to substitute a four-point support for the usualthree-point support on this class of pivoted-roll short carriages. Uponthe front of the short carriage are pivoted two rolls which are widelyseparated, while at the back the carriage has also two supports, thusmaking a four-point support. The. two front rolls are placed one at eachside of the center of gravity of the carriage, and the portion of thecarriage-weight that'overhangs beyond the rolls at either side of thecarriage is much reduced, and the leverage of such overhanging weight isalso much reduced, so:that said overhanging weight is renderedineffective to teeter the carriage at either end. In other words, theweight at either side of the carriage is mainly at one side of alinewhich joins the front and rear rolls at the opposite side of thecarriage. ,At the left-hand side, the carriagetends to swing down aboutthe front and rear rolls at the right-hand side. At theright-hand side,the carriage tends to swing down about the front and rear rolls at theleft-hand side; This conduces substantially to steadiness and truenessof operation, the carriage adhering to its true path even at high speed.

These advantages are gained without .increasing the-dimensions of thetypewriting machine, since it is contrived to guide the front rolls bymeans of a single track which may have ordinary length, and, in fact,need not exceed the length of the rear rail. I Preferably, the front andrear rails are about the same shortness. V p

. To gain these ends, there is fixed upon the front standards of themachine a short rail which is grooved on its rearside to form" opposedupper and lower tracks, between which the combined front rolls fit, andalong which they travel. The rolls are of a diameter just sufficient toclear the space between the upper and lower tracks, and preferably inthe combination the right-hand roll may be made adjustable so that itwill run in contact with I theu-pper track, .to prevent rising, whilethe left-hand one rolls upon the lower track,

to prevent falling. Each roll always remains confined between thetracks; and the rolls may use the main portion .of the length of thetrack in common, each roll moving across the middle point of the machineduring the traverse of the carriage.

, At the rear of the carriage the left-hand support may include rollssubstantially as shown in the patent of Helmond, No. 1,693,- M, ofNovember 27, 1928 ;whi le-at the righthand side of the carriage theremay be used only a slide unit in the form of a simple .collar ridingdirectly upon the rear carriage-rail. The collar rests directly uponthecrown of the rail, and the surface of contact may extend down aroundtherear of the rail about to its middle. This constitutes the mainsliding portion of the collar. Directly 0 3-. posite thismain sliding orbearing portion, a take-up screw is threaded into the collar, to takeagainst the under front portion of the rail, thus eliminatingup-and-down play at this point, without incurring friction. Thearrangement of the carriage with the sliding support at its right-handrear end, and the roll-supportat its rear left-hand side, in com?bination with the substantially separated front pivoted rolls, is foundin practice to avoid chattering or trembling and give a superlativeaccuracy and freedom of movement, rendering the carriage very sensitiveand quickly moved in its letter-spacing operations, while the alignmentof the typewritten characters is substantially perfected.

The sliding of the carriage at one of its four supporting points doesnot result in liability of friction or binding, because the carriage isguided by rolls at its other three supporting points; but the slidingsupport at this one point contributes to the solidity and to the trueand smooth action of the carriage. lVith the described supports, thecarriage is practically free from the fault of teetering.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a part-sectional side elevation of the carriage of anUnderwood front-strike typewriting machine provided with the pres entimprovements.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the supporting unit for the rear ofthe carriage at the right-hand side.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the carriage.

Figure 4 is a detail of the device seen at Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the right-hand supporting roll,showing a detail of eccentric adjustment.

' Figure 6 is a front elevation of the machine, partly in section andpartly broken away.

Figure 7 is a rear elevation of the carriage.

Figure 8 is a front sectional elevation of the details of the frontcarriage-rolls, showing one adjustable. The clearance between the rollsand the guide-rails is exaggerated.

As usual in the Underwood machine, types 10 strike rearwardly against aplaten 11 which is mounted in a frame 12, Figures 1 and 7, said framebeing mounted in the usual manner in a carriage. The carriage will beseen to include side bars 13 and 14, a rear bar 15 and a front bar 16 ofinverted L-section. The carriage is supported and guided by the usualcylindrical rear rail 17 and by a novel grooved front rail 18, thelatter forming part of a crossbar 19 which rigidly joins the frontstandards 20, 21 of the typewriter-frame.

The carriage is pulled along by a spring strap 22 at its rear, and isarrested at its letter-feeding movement by a rack 23, which meshes withthe usual pinion 24, driving the usual escapement-wheel 25, controlledby the usual dogs 26.

The weight of the carriage is mainly in front of its point of arrest 23,so that the carriage, when arrested, tends to set up a rotation inclockwise direction, when viewed in plan, thus setting up tremors in thecarriage.

It is also noted that substantially the entire weight of theleftwardly-feeding car- *iage is above the point of arrest 23, so thatthere is a tendency set up for the arrested carriage to r ck or teeterin anti-clockwise direction when viewed from the front, this tendencybeing very great in carriages having the welbknown three-pointsuspension. The rear guide-rail 17 may be the usual length. The carriagehas secured to its rear bar collars 28 and 29, which encircle the rail17, these collars being suitably spaced for guiding the carriage, andeach one always remaining upon the rail 17. With the left-hand collar 29are associated a rear oblique guide-roll 30 and a front horizontalguide-roll 31, running upon the rail 17. Roll 30 rides upon the rearupper face of the rail, as set forth in said Patent No. 1,693,1 l, andthese rolls co-operate with the collar 29 substantially in the mannerset forth in said patent.

The right-hand carriage-supporting collar 28 constitutes a sliding unit,which is detachably secured to the rear carriage-bar 15 by means ofscrews 32. This slide is seen at Figure 1 as bearing upon the crown ofthe rail 17, and hugging the rail on the rear side. The collar isC-shaped, and its hooked end 33 also bears against the rear face of therail. The weight of the carriage, which is borne by this collar or slide28, is sufiicient to hold the slide down tightly upon the rail; andtendency to upward vibration is overcome by the means of an adjustableguide, preferably in the form of a screw which threaded up through thecollar at a point preferably a little in front of the vertical plane ofthe rail axis. This screw may be secured by means of a clamp-screw 35,Figure 2, which tends to close a slit 36 which is formedcircumferentially through the collar, the slit intersecting the threadedhole in which the screw 3 L turns. Hence this sliding unit 28 is incontact with the rail 1? practically throughout the circumferencethereof, the contact of the screw 34 being light, so as not to producebinding and friction, but still being sufficient to prevent verticaljump of the carriage at this point due to the reasons already given. Itwill be seen that the rear of the carriage runs freely, the single slideunit not tending to produce any binding upon the rail, and the rolls 30,31 at the left-hand side of the carriage successfully overcoming anytendency of the co-operating slide 29 to stick. The guiding of thecarriage at its rear is therefore very free and yet very accurate, andthe tendency of horizontal and vertical vibration is much reduced.Especially, it is noted that the rear of the carriage is safeguardedagainst jumping up when arrested by the rack 23 and pinion 24-. Thecollar or slide 28 being the sole support of the carriage at this point,it is made much thicker for wearing purposes than the collar 29, whichhas the aid of the rolls in carrying the load, Figure 7. Thecarriage-driving strap 22 may be conveniently connected to the screw 34,Figures 1 and 7.

The tendency of the carriage to jump up has been very noticeable at thefront of the machine, but this tendency is practically overcome in thepresent organization having the widely-separated front rolls 37, 38 andguide-tracks 18. WVhile these anti-jump rolls need not be separated sofar as are the rear collars 28, 29, still-there is substantialseparation, so that the jumping tendency of the front of the carriageisv met at two separated points, thus preventing the carriage-front fromrising at one side while dipping'at the opposite side, and overcomingthe tendency of the front of the carriage to teeter up and down, whichtendency is due partly to the weight of the overhanging portions of thecarriage, that is, the portions at the right of the roll 37 and at theleft of the roll 38, and partly to the explained tendency of thecarriage to turn anti-clockwise when'arrested. These rolls, althoughseparated, are still constantly in contact with the front carriageguiderail 18, which has top track 39 and bottom track 40,,the length of thefront rail 18 being about the same as that of the rear rail 17, and thusnot increasing the over-all dimensions of the typewriting machine,although admitting a very wide separation of the front carriage-rolls37, 38. 7 These front rolls are closely fitted in th race formed on therear side of the rail 18, but each roll runs upon one track and is justout of contact with the other, so that there is not a perceptible shake.Preferably the right-hand roll 37, Figures 6 and 8, runs upon the bottomtrack 40, and is vertically adj ustable by means of an eccentric bushing41, Figure 5. Thus it is impossible for the front of the carriage eitherto rise or fall, as both rolls are in contact with the track, one withthe top track and the other with the bottom track. The bushing 41 hasa'bolt-head 42 whereby it may be adjusted. The roll 37 runs upon a rowof balls 43, running upon a pair of cones 44, held by a screw 45, whichis threaded into the eccentric 41.

The rail, being formed directlyupon the usual scale-bearing cross-bar19, forms a flange for said her, and thereby stifiens'the same, whilethe entire rail occupies a position above the usual margin-gagemechanism, and contributes to the pleasing appearance of the machine.

Variations may be resorted towithin the scope of the invention, andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a power-drivencarriage, of front and rear fixed rails, widely-separated guideat theleft-hand end of the carriage, and the right-hand rear supportconsisting of a sliding collar riding upon the rail, thecollar restingdirectly upon the crown of the rail, and the surface of contactextending down around the rear of the rail, said collar having a slit, atake-up screw threaded through the collar against the under frontportion of the rail, to eliminate u'p-and-do'wn play without incurringfriction, said screw being threaded through said slit, and a transversescrew for closing the slit and thereby binding the take-up screwwherever adjusted.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a power-driven shortcarriage and short front and rear fixed rails, of widelyseparatedguide-supports secured upon the carriage to run upon the rear rail onesupport being a friction bearing support, the other an anti-frictionbearing support, and a pair of combined widely-separated guide rollspivoted upon the carriage to run upon the front rail, said front railhaving upper and lower parallel tracks, said front rolls placed one oneach side of the center of gravity of the carriage and always confinedbetween said tracks, one roll running upon one track, and the other rollhaving a rolling entrack.

3. In a typewriter machine in combination with a power driven carriage,front and rear fixed rails, guide supports secured upon the carriage torun upon the rear rail, and two widely separated front supports botharranged to continuously run upon the front rail, one of said rearsupports being a sliding support and to which the strap for moving thecarriage is attached, the sliding support comprising a collar restingdirectly upon the crown of the rail, and the surface of contactextending down around the rear of the rail, the other rear supporthaving guide rolls and tion take-up device on the collar.

WILLIAM F. HELMOND.

